DWP benefit claimants received £4billion less than they were entitled to last year

The Public Accounts Committee warned radical claiming disablement benefits are besides getting 'unacceptably mediocre service' - waiting connected mean 10 times longer for calls to beryllium answered

Benefit claimants received £4billion little than they were entitled to past twelvemonth putting them astatine accrued hazard of hardship, MPs person warned.

The Public Accounts Committee besides said radical claiming disablement benefits are getting "unacceptably mediocre service" - arsenic they hold connected mean 10 times longer for their calls to beryllium answered.

The MPs' study recovered payment claimants recieved £4billion little than they were entitled to successful 2023-24. This is simply a emergence of £500million connected the erstwhile twelvemonth which stood astatine £3.5billion.

The underpayment rates are the highest for disablement benefits, including Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and the Disability Living Allowance. It said galore claimants request to pass the DWP if their information has worsened - meaning they are entitled to much wealth - but a important fig of calls spell unanswered.

The study recovered successful 2023-24, radical connected Employment Support Allowance waited connected mean 26 minutes and 53 seconds from the DWP to reply their calls. This is compared to an mean of 2 minutes and 45 seconds for those connected Universal Credit.

The MPs said: "These underpayments permission the claimants affected with little wealth than they should have, making their finances much precarious than they should be".

The study adds £9.5billion was overpaid - down to fraud and mistake - successful the aforesaid year. This could beryllium deliberate fraud - either by individuals oregon organised transgression groups - oregon unintended errors by some claimants oregon the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

At the Autumn Budget past twelvemonth the authorities announced an other £110million to combat fraud and mistake alongside an further 3,000 staff. New laws person besides been acceptable retired to springiness the DWP powerfulness to retrieve wealth straight from the slope accounts successful cases of payment fraud.

Committee Chairman said: "In immoderate cases, claimants are virtually calling for assistance and receiving nary answer, resulting successful expanding risks to their fiscal security. The British nationalist would beryllium forgiven for reasoning the authorities is AWOL conscionable erstwhile it needs it most. The DWP indispensable bash much to guarantee that claimants are reunited with the wealth to which they are entitled, arsenic good arsenic to recognize the needs of susceptible claimants."

He added: "We are besides arsenic acrophobic astatine the representation of increasing underpayments arsenic we are with overpayments, and person small sympathy for the DWP’s statement that this emergence is driven by a increasing propensity for fraud successful society.This amounts to saying that the DWP’s occupation is excessively hard to bash good – not a defence that this Committee is prepared to accept.”

Richard Kramer, main enforcement of nationalist disablement foundation Sense, said the report's findings are "no surprise". He said: "We've been told again and again by disabled radical that getting the assistance they're entitled to has been an ordeal.

"In our research, fractional of radical with analyzable disabilities said the benefits exertion process made the interaction of their information worse - it shouldn't beryllium similar this. Disabled radical person been paying the terms of a breached benefits strategy for acold excessively long."

A DWP spokesperson said: “We person reduced phoneline waiting times and are providing tailored assistance for customers with further needs portion besides uprating benefits by 1.7% this April to guarantee that customers get each the enactment they are entitled to.

“The study does not see that we are already taking enactment connected fraud and mistake done our caller Fraud Error & Recovery Bill which volition assistance america support claimants by stopping errors earlier alongside redeeming an estimated £1.5 cardinal of payer wealth implicit the adjacent 5 years.”